Tracing Your Secret Service Ancestors

By Phil Tomaselli

Did you have a spy in the family, an ancestor who was involved in espionage at home or abroad? If you have ever had any suspicions about the secret activities of your relatives, or are curious about the long hidden history of Britain's secret services and those who served in them, this is the book for you. Phil Tomaselli's fascinating guide to over 200 years of British spies and spying takes the reader on a journey through the twilight world of the secret intelligence organizations Britain has run since the time of the French Revolution to the modern day, and it shows where their records can be found.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 19, 2009
• ISBN: 9781844688449

Book preview

Chapter 1

GETTING STARTED

Experienced family historians will already be aware that the more you know about an ancestor at the start of your quest, the more you are likely to find out as you go on. Though the documents that you will be looking for (or at) in the case of secret-service people are likely to be different from the usual family history documents, the principle is the same. Collect together all the information you can find and write it down.

Gathering information

Look out any paperwork you might have; speak to your relatives, particularly the older ones, to see if they have any relevant medals, diaries, official papers, passports, letters or memorabilia that might be useful to you. Ask if they remember any stories they might have been told about where your relative served and what they did – though such stories need to be treated with a certain amount of caution, there is often a germ of truth in them. Ask if your relative had any particular language skills, if they know whether they went abroad – and if they did, find out approximately when and where they went. Try and find out the names of people they worked with as sometimes their friends and contacts can provide a vital clue.

Please remember that someone who has been engaged in secret work will have been warned that they should not discuss their work. This may well have extended to warning their relatives not to talk about anything and many people will want to respect this wish.

Family historians will know that very often you will find out more information about someone when something goes wrong in their life – divorce, bankruptcy, serious injury, a trial or conviction, scandal and death – these types of thing generate publicity and paperwork. The quiet, law-abiding citizen is harder to find information on. So it is in the world of secret service – the good spy, whether an administrator at headquarters, officer in the field or agent operating under cover should generate as little paperwork as possible. You tend to get more information when something goes wrong and other people become involved. The cases of John Leather and George Georgiadis, who were both imprisoned, are good examples. Most of the time you are likely only to find brief definite confirmation of involvement with secret service and will then have to make generalisations about their work by reading associated documents.

Useful things to have at the start

• Full name and date of birth of the person you are researching;

• Write down why you think why they might have been involved in secret-service work;

• Name(s) of likely next of kin (father, mother or spouse);

• Collect any photographs, letters, postcards, pieces of uniform or other kit that come from their period of service.

Some of this information you’ll need in order to obtain a copy of the individual’s service record or to check that you have found the correct service record if it has already been released to the public.

In the period we are looking at there is a very strong chance that your relative served in one of the armed forces either as a ‘cover’ for their real work, because they started in the forces and transferred, or simply as an administrative means of getting them paid. Find out which of the services they served in – the Army, Royal Navy (including Royal Marines) or Royal Air Force – and try and work out the dates they served. Details of the regiment and battalion, ship or squadron will also speed up your search. Try and find out whether they were an officer or ‘other rank’. Though the better known secret-service people were generally officers, many ‘other ranks’ did administrative and technical work.

Armed forces personal service records

Everyone who serves in the armed forces has a unique service record, which gives basic details of what they did, where they went, their promotions, medals and next of kin. The first thing to decide is whether their record might be available at TNA, or whether you will need to apply to the Ministry of Defence for a copy.

The Royal Navy

Royal Navy officer service records for those who joined the service before May 1917 are in ADM 196. These are now available online and on microfilm at TNA and the records have been indexed and the results are on cards held in the Open Reading Room. They contain such information as dates of birth, rank, seniority, date of appointment, orders and commissions, awards, distinctions and examinations and include particulars of Royal Marine officers. There are record cards additionally for all naval officers born before 1900 in ADM 340. There is a useful TNA leaflet on finding RN officers’ service records available online at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=261.

Service records of RNVR officers can be found in two series: ADM 337. The records in ADM 337/117 – ADM 337/128 cover the period up to 1922 and are searchable by name on TNA’s online catalogue: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/Default.asp?j=l.

The best place to find records for Royal Naval Reserve officers is in ADM 340 – Richard Tinsley, SIS man in Holland in the First World War, is in ADM 340/136 and Basil Ohlson, an early MI5 officer, is in ADM 340/104.

Service records for Royal Naval ratings who joined the Royal Navy between 1873 and 1923 are in the ADM 188 series. These records can now be accessed at TNA’s online catalogue. These records do not give service details after 1928.

There is a useful TNA leaflet on finding RN ratings’ service records available online at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=39#3.

If the service record is not yet open, you can apply (if you are next of kin or can obtain their consent) to have a copy by contacting: The Directorate of Personnel Support (Navy), Navy Search, TNT Archive Services, Tetron Point, William Nadin Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 0BB; tel: [phone]/912/913; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

For Royal Marine officers from 1893 to 1925 there are detailed service records in ADM 196/58-65, 83 and 97-112.

Records for Royal Marine other ranks are in ADM 157 (Attestation Forms) and ADM 159 (Service Records) and there is a TNA guide available online at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?s LeafletID=56.

For records of both officers and other ranks after 1923 you will need to apply to: The Directorate of Personnel Support (Navy), Navy Search, TNT Archive Services, Tetron Point, William Nadin Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire DE11 0BB; tel: [phone]/912/913; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

The Army

Service records for Army officers who served before 1913 and did not serve during the First World War are in WO 25 and WO 76. A useful TNA guide is available online at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=13.

Service records for officers who served in the First World War and up to about 1922 are in WO 339 and WO 374 series. We will look at the contents in more depth later, but to begin with it is necessary to find the record. If the surname is reasonably unusual then a search can be made using TNA’s online catalogue in the two series, otherwise you will need to visit TNA and use the microfilmed index in WO 338, which is an alphabetical list of officers that will give you (by a circuitous route) the reference you will require.

Service records for Army other ranks from the First World War were badly damaged in the blitz and only some 2 million survive, in one form or another, out of about 9 million originals. The surviving records are in WO 363 and WO 364. These records are going online at ancestry.com.

A useful TNA guide is available online at: www.nationalarchives. gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=18#8.

If you are searching for someone who served after 31 March 1922 the records are still with the Ministry of Defence. You can apply (if you are next of kin or can obtain their consent) to have a copy by contacting: Ministry of Defence, Army Personnel Centre, Historic Disclosures, Mailpoint 400, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX; tel: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

The Home Guard

Though promised for some time, Home Guard records have not yet been released. The Home Guard List gives details of officers and is available on the shelves of TNA’s Open Reading Room.

Next of kin can apply to: Army Personnel Centre, Historic Disclosures, Mailpoint 555, Kentigern House, 65 Brown Street, Glasgow G2 8EX; tel: [phone].

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed on 1 April 1918 by amalgamating the Army’s Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Officers and men of both services transferred into the new service and were joined by new entrants.

Records of RFC officers, 1914–March 1918, were forwarded to the RAF and are in AIR 76, along with records of RAF officers who joined after April 1918 and details of former RNAS officers after that date. Records of RNAS officers up to March 1918, are in ADM 273.

Service Records for both officers who served after 1922 and men who served after 1924 are still retained by the Ministry of Defence and to access these you will need to write to: RAF Disclosures Section, Room 221b, Trenchard Hall, RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 8HB; tel: [phone] ext 6711, exts 8161/8159 (officers), exts 8163/8168/8170 (other ranks).

When writing to any of the service-record offices, please provide not only proof of kinship but as much information as you can regarding your relative, including full name, date and place of birth and a rough idea of his period of service. Most important of all, if you have his service number, give that first – service numbers in the RAF have always been unique. A fee is chargeable.

Other things you can do

There are some very good histories of the various secret services that your local library may have, or that they may be able to obtain for you through the inter-library loan service. I have included these in the bibliography.

Useful things to know

The National Archives

This may seem like an advertisement for The National Archives at Kew (TNA) because almost all the official papers you are going to want are held there. There are other sources that may be able to provide additional information in the form of personal papers of people who may have served with them but in the main it is TNA that will be the source of the information you will want to access.

If you have Internet access start by looking at TNA website at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm. The first page includes links to some guides to starting family history research and there is a basic introducion to some of the intelligence records they hold (including MI5 and Special Operations Executive) online at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=32.

Try, quite simply, entering the individual’s name into TNA’s search engine and see what pops up. Obviously with a name like Smith you are going to get a lot of hits (917 alone in WO 374) but persevere, restrict the date range and series searched and try adding initials etc. When I first started doing this research very few records could be searched for in this way, but now the initial searching is so much easier. George Georgiadis pops up in FO 286/730 and HO 144/6272 immediately.

Take time to look at TNA’s website in advance of any visit you intend making. The ‘Visit Us’ page will give information on how to get there, opening times, document ordering and an initial tour for new visitors. It is well worthwhile taking this tour as it will show you the reading rooms, where to find readers’ guides and computer terminals and who to ask for advice.

Photocopying facilities are available, and digital cameras are allowed. Some of the documents you may be interested in (such as First World War medal cards and some of the more popular MI5 records) are available online to download from home but can also be printed off during your visit at considerably reduced cost.

Records at TNA are held under the reference of the Government Department that created them. For the Security Service (MI5) records are in the KV series; for SOE the HS series; for the Government Code & Cypher School (now GCHQ and commonly known as Bletchley Park) the HW series. Other series that may well come into a search are MEPO (Metropolitan Police, for Special Branch); the Home Office (HO series) for records on subversives, internees and naturalised foreigners; the Admiralty (ADM series) for Royal Naval records; the War Office (WO series) for the Army and AIR series for the RAF.

Some of the records are so popular that they are held on microfilm, including officer and other rank RAF service records from the First World War in AIR 76 and AIR 79, soldiers’ service records in WO 363 and WO 364 and MI5’s First World War records in KV 1. Microfilm readers and copiers are available, and you can request to see the original documents in special cases.

With the best will in the world, unless you are very lucky and only looking for a small amount of information, you are unlikely to find everything you want on your first visit. Set your sights reasonably low – if you already have a service record that shows where the individual served, try finding a few files relating to their postings to begin with.

Don’t be afraid to ask the staff if you do not understand something – I have always found them very friendly and professional, and their range of knowledge of the records is incredible.

Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act does not apply to SIS, MI5, Special Branch or GCHQ, but this does not mean that it cannot be used to find information that may be relevant to research.

On occasion you may come across a file that is at TNA but that is marked ‘Closed or Retained Document’ but which you think may be of interest to you. If this is the case, the catalogue itself should offer you the opportunity to request a review. Many of the Home Office naturalisation papers and most of the SOE personnel files are like this if the individual’s date of birth is less than 100 years ago. You will need to provide evidence that the individual is dead. For policy files marked ‘Closed or Retained Document’ there is no need to provide a reason, and you will be advised of the decision in due course.

Some files are ‘Closed Or Retained Document, Open Description, Retained by Department under Section 3.4’. For these you will need to apply to the relevant department for a review.

Overlap

It is worth bearing in mind that there has always been a considerable exchange of staff (and sometimes even agents) between the various intelligence organisations. MI5 has taken Special Branch officers from time to time, MI5 officers have gone to work for SIS on a regular basis and vice versa, SOE and SIS exchanged staff and the Auxiliary Units provided officers and men for Special Forces and SOE. The Intelligence Corps has served as a source of officers and agents and as a convenient badge for agents to wear in the field to try and protect them from charges of being a spy.

If you are unable to trace a relative in the records of the service you thought they were in, then it is worth digging around a bit more. For example, John Patrick Shelley was in MI5 in the First World War and his subsequent career (too long to go into here) encompassed Military Intelligence, SIS, Passport Control, SOE and Special Forces in the Far East. His career has had to be reconstructed from records relating to all of these services.

Ancestral sources frequently work just as well on spies

Just because you are looking at someone involved in secret-service work it does not mean that other family history resources will not apply. Censuses available online can be used to find dates of birth and family connections and there are various passenger lists and immigration lists online, as well as online newspapers such as The Times, which frequently refer to individuals.

One minor problem that I was able to solve with the help of online documents was the exact identity of the man who took over as Director of MI5 in May 1940. The introduction to the first MI5 official history names him as Brigadier A W A Harker, as does (in May 2008) the official MI5 website. (This has subsequently been amended to O A Harker – however they are still wrong in saying he was from the Army; he was a former Indian policeman.) The Organisational Structure Charts in the official history, as well as staff lists in KV 4/127, say it should be Brigadier O A Harker. Another slight mystery concerning O A Harker was quite where he came from – he suddenly emerges on the MI5 staff lists in quite a senior position – he must have had previous intelligence connections, but what were they?

The Times Digital Archive (TDA) was my primary source. This provides a digitised source of The Times newspaper from 1785–1875. Some local libraries will allow you access from your home computer and other libraries (and TNA) will allow you access from theirs.

Among the facts obtained were:

• An announcement on 5 June 1919 of the forthcoming marriage of Major A W Allen Harker RGA;

• An announcement on 9 August 1919 of Major Harker’s marriage on the 7 August. On this occasion his full name (Arthur William Allen Harker) was given;

• An announcement on 29 June 1920 of Oswald Allen Harker’s forthcoming marriage;

• An announcement on 27 October 1920 of the marriage of Mr Oswald Allen Harker (Indian Police) the previous day. Captain A W Allen Harker, the bridegroom’s brother, was best man. Colonel Sir Vernon and Lady Kell were among the guests;

• An announcement on 5 March 1938 of changes at the War Office that included Lieutenant Colonel A W A Harker, RAOC, as Assistant Director of Munitions Production;

• An announcement on 26 October 1945 of Oswald Allen Harper’s silver wedding.

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Seen here in his uniform as an officer in the Grenadier Guards, J P Shelley served successively in the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, MI5, the Royal Flying Corps, on attachment to the Egyptian Army, Military Intelligence in China, with SIS in the Middle East, as Passport Control Officer in Warsaw, with SOE in the Middle East and with Special Forces in India. (courtesy of the Regimental Museum of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment)

Kell’s presence at Oswald Harker’s wedding and the fact that he had been in the Indian Police confirm that he was the MI5 man and explained his previous intelligence connection. The Indian Civil Service List at TNA was able to give me more information about his previous career.

The only Oswald Harker in the 1901 Census was an agricultural worker living in Yorkshire, which sounded unlikely. The 1891 Census produced a more likely prospect, Oswald Allan Harker, aged 5, born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. His brother Arthur is shown as being born in 1890. Their father was Professor James Allen Harker, naturalist on the faculty at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester; their mother was a playwright and novelist writing as Lizzie Allen Harker (her married name) or just Lizzie Allen.

Armed with this information, it was easy to find the Harkers in the 1891 Census but not in the 1901 Census for some reason. In 1891, Oswald’s age was given as 5 and Arthur’s as 6 months. Records of their births in 1886 and 1890 were then easily obtained using Findmypast.com.

Findmypast.com was also then used to find Oswald’s death. This was a laborious search, quarter by quarter, until his name appeared in the January–March Quarter 1968. He had died in Lambeth at the age of 81.

From the Army lists, I was able to